


What's the Catch?

by trashwriter



Series: That Mermaid AU [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: First Meetings, Fluff and Angst, Kuroo is a good bro, M/M, Near Drowning, Other, i'm a fisherman and you're the mermaid that's caught in my net au, mermaid au, now officially a part of 'that mermaid au' verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-19
Updated: 2015-05-19
Packaged: 2018-03-31 05:42:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3966553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trashwriter/pseuds/trashwriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Daichi!” called Kuroo from across the deck, “The net’s stuck again!”</p>
<p>Daichi glared across the deck at the erstwhile captain of the rustbucket he was currently trying to keep from springing any further leaks.</p>
<p>“I’m your mechanic, not your cabin boy!” he called back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's the Catch?

“Daichi!” called Kuroo from across the deck, “The net’s stuck again!”

Daichi glared across the deck at the erstwhile captain of the rustbucket he was currently trying to keep from springing any further leaks.

“I’m your mechanic, not your cabin boy!” he called back.

“You’re the only one who can untangle the damn things without tearing the nets, come on,” Kuroo wheedled, “It’s a beautiful day and the water is fine~”

“We’re in the middle of Siren Bay, of course the water is fine, it’s just also full of mer that want to eat our insides.”

“All the more reason for the guy who’s immune to siren song to go untangle the net!” Kuroo pointed out brightly.

“Why am I even friends with you again?” demanded Daichi even as he stripped out of his shirt and tossed his sunglasses on the deck.

“Cause we struggled through the hardships of raising two above average volleyball teams and pitting them against each other, and then shared a dorm in uni,” Kuroo pointed out, “Also cause I owe you for life for the Kenma thing and now you can’t get rid of me.”

Daichi snorted, but dove into the balmy water of Siren Bay, lazily front crawling alongside the length of the boat while Kuroo killed the struggling engines. Daichi just hoped they’d be able to get the damn things to start again.

Kuroo threw him a grin and a thumbs up from his place at the stern, a hand on the controls for the small drag net they were using. Rolling his eyes Daichi took a quick gulp of air and let himself sink back into the almost preternaturally clear waters of the bay.

The water wasn’t too deep, but Daichi’s lungs were still straining as he came level with the trailing edge of the net and saw what exactly it was caught on.

A mer with silver hair, and a lithe pale grey tail was struggling viciously with the heavy cord of the net the flared edges of his arm fins and the jut of the dorsal fin hopelessly snared by the frayed edges. Daichi had a brief incongruous thought that Kuroo was going to be pissed about the net but most of his brain was occupied by the sight of the creature before him.

It’s human face was fine featured and incredibly beautiful, as expected of a mer, at least if you ignored the snarl twisting it’s lips and the jagged rows of fine impossibly sharp teeth.

He wished he could have spent more time just, staring, but he, unfortunately, needed air and to get the mer out of Kuroo’s shitty old net before they attracted more mer and someone got hurt. He kicked off from the seafloor with one powerful motion and rocketed towards the light, followed by an indignant trilling screech that probably translated to something like, “Get back down here and get me out of this thing so that I can gut you like a fish!”

Daichi broke the surface with a gasp, pushing his mask up onto the top of his head with a breathless laugh.

“So?” called Kuroo, “Can you get it?”

“Yeah,” Daichi called back, “You caught a fricking mer though, Kuroo.”

“Aw, shit,” Kuroo said running a hand through his salt-encrusted bed hair and making it stick up at even more impossible angles.

“The net’s gonna be done for and I think it’d be wise if we got out of Siren’s Bay pretty fast after this,” Daichi said.

“Yeah, shit, alright, I’ll put my earplugs in, gimme a sec,” Kuroo disappeared below-deck while Daichi treaded water, and reappeared with noise cancelling ear protectors smooshed over his head, he gave Daichi another quick thumbs up and then shouted, his voice louder than usual, “Hey Daichi, you can’t let the mer eat you, you hear me? I’m gonna need you to fix the damn engines!”

Daichi waved an acknowledgement, readjusted his mask and took another breath, diving back into the water.

He dropped faster that time, using all the tricks he learned while he was in the Coast Guard to get down to the seafloor as fast as possible. The mer was still there, holding fast to a rocky outcrop to keep balanced in the water, no longer struggling.

“Daichi,” it called out, face compelling, “Please, help me, Daichi.”

Daichi smiled at it, a grin that was all teeth, shaking his head he pointed at the mer, and then to himself, tapped his ear and shook his head again, shrugging.

The mer immediately dropped the seductive façade, although the half-snarl, half-pout that crossed its face was compelling for an entirely different reason.

Daichi kicked a little closer to the net, earning a sharp scolding croon and a full-body twitch from the mer, grabbing the edge he towed himself in closer, trying to remember all those lessons on mer body language he’d doodled his way through and make himself look as nonthreatening as possible.

He didn’t know if it worked, because he was immediately grabbed around the bicep by claw tipped fingers, unfortunately that upset the poor mer’s balance and he was forced to let go or send them both tumbling.

While the mer was righting itself Daichi used the opportunity to unclip his multi-tool from his belt and start sawing through the frayed and tangled net.

The mer seemed surprised, blinking at him when his second arm suddenly pulled free of the net, leaving it free to paddle to keep afloat without the use of its tail.

Daichi gave it a, hopefully encouraging pat on the nearest velvety grey flank and set about carefully hacking through a few key cords, hoping to keep both the net and the mer as intact as possible while still working quickly.

He wasn’t quick prepared though for the sudden surge of a tail knocking the little wind he had clean out of him in a quick burst of bubbles and reflexively took a gasping breath.

_Bad idea Daichi—_

But the next thing he knew there was a grip like a vice around his bicep again and he was coughing up saltwater and bile clinging to the edge of the damn rustbucket Kuroo called a boat.

“Daichi!” he thought he heard Kuroo say, “Fucking hell! Daichi!”

Kuroo grabbed him and was quick to drag him into the boat proper and rub at his back and arms with one of the threadbare, sun-warmed towels draped over nearly every available surface.

“What just—” Daich broke off to cough on his own attempt at breathing, “Happened?”

“What happened is you gave me a fucking heart attack you asshole,” grumbled Kuroo, “You’re lucky your new mermaid friend thinks your cute, or I’d be down a best friend and a mechanic.”

Daichi glanced out over the sea-glass green waters of Siren Bay and thought he saw the flick of a lithe grey fin, circling the boat as Kuroo fussed and swore at him. But that might have been his imagination.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> done for au ask day on tumblr, title credit goes to the lovely Brycen!!


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